Best Gadgets World

We’ve had a fun time covering CES and in our ongoing quest of finding the coolest gadget we came across a few worthy contenders. So we need a bit help in deciding what was the Coolest Gadget of CES 2008. We’ve made a shortlist of our favourite 3, so please vote for one of those or add your own (ideally from one of the gadgets we covered rather than missed ). If you leave a comment as well you’ll be in the running for a $50 Amazon or Think Geek voucher as our way of saying thanks (the winner will be drawn randomly 48 hours after this post when the voting ends).

So our short list of coolest CES gadgets is:

Computerized Chopper

The concept was to produce a product capable of operating under some pretty tough conditions and to show the potential of the current embedded technology. The result was the SwitchBack PC, a product which was already in development stages by Black Diamond. Read more »

FPS Gaming vest - Feel the Bullets

The FPS Gaming vest is a new gaming peripheral aimed at the first person shooter market. Looking like a flack jacket, the vest will actually “punch” you when you get hit. Not only that, but it punches where you get hit too. It doesn’t bruise, but you definitely know you’ve been fragged and where the shot came from. Read more »

Guitar Hero Air Guitar Rocker

Air Guitar Rocker is officially licensed with Guitar Hero but you don’t need to own Guitar Hero to play. Simply wear the supplied ‘heavy metal’ belt buckle, attach it to the included processor thingie and you’re good to go. Play your air guitar by strumming the plectrum in front of your groin the belt buckle. Read more (and watch the video) »

Please let us know what you think, other suggestions are more than welcome.

What was the coolest gadget of CES 2008?

• Computerized Chopper
• FPS Gaming Vest
• Guitar Hero Air Guitar Rocker
• Alienware Curved Display For Ultimate Gaming
• Add an Answer

View Results

If you are reading this via our feed you’ll have to visit the site to vote. Thanks and good luck in the draw.

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The picture to the left is simply a scan of a postcard that I received in the mail, and there are several things that make this picture special.

The first thing is that it depicts a handsome blogger who visited CES 2008 in Las Vegas, and is holding up a genuine Las Vegas napkin as “proof that I was here”.

The second thing is that the postcard is made from a picture from a cell phone. However, there was no work downloading the picture to a PC, or taking the time to print it out with a caption. All that it took was sending the picture from a cell phone to WYWH.mobi, and then the postcard was printed elsewhere and sent to its destination.

I believe that this WYWH (acronym for Wish You Were Here) service is very useful. After all, most people will send postcards when they are on vacation. I suppose that they could print out the postcards themselves, but who is going to bring their photo-printer along on vacation? I suppose you could print out your postcards when you come home, but doesn’t that defeat the point?

Fortunately, all you have to do is take a picture, send it to the WYWM.mobi, and they send your postcards off to your friends and relatives before you get home. Each postcard is about $1.99, which includes a caption on the front and room for a typewritten message. Unfortunately, this service won’t be available for a few months, but I think it’s worth the wait.

More Info

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Posted Jan 15th 2008 11:03AM by Ryan Block
Filed under: Features
Thanks for joining us for our live Macworld 2008 keynote coverage! We’re in, so click on, all our real-time updates are posted just after the break.

Note: this time we’re updating from bottom to top, with the latest updates below.
Bonus: You’ll also be able to read it in Spanish this year!
8:35am - Media signs are going up. Any minute now.

8:33am - Looks like they’re about to open the doors to the conference hall.

8:20am - They just pointed to the hall doors.

8:18am - Bomb-sniffing dogs; that’s a new one for Macworld!

8:05AM - We’re in line, and what a line it is. The press crowd is absolutely enormous. Apple won’t be admitting for a little while yet, so stick close!

James Bond had Q to make all his spy gear function and fashionable.  It seems one company has figured out the functional part.  Meet the Ajoka Buckle Cam, which slips around your waist and transforms itself from a mundane belt holding up your pants into a full color, sound-enabled digital video recording device (DVR).

While the fashion police would probably arrest you on the spot, no one else will even mildly suspect that the belt buckle you are wearing is actually a video camera. This marvel of spy technology created by Ajoka makes personal investigation up close and very personal. It is perfect for secret video surveillance or for any covert evidence-gathering operation.

Manufactured in China, the way it works is quite fascinating. The buckle DVR records to a microSD card, and Ajoka boasts that it can cram 33 hours of audio and video onto a 1GB card. Filling the card, however, takes a while, as the lithium rechargeable battery only lasts for two hours between charges. The buckle cam has no internal memory and does not come with a Micro SD/T-Flash card. Measuring 2.54” x 1.47” x 0.6 and it can be all yours for a mere $150.

At the very least, it is an ugly belt buckle with a purpose.  Not the same came be said for many of them out there.

Read [Mobile Mag]

Back when I was younger an awesome move came out that introduced me to James Bond. That movie was Goldeneye, and sadly there hadn’t been a movie featuring 007 in over six years, so I was only vaguely familiar with the character at the time. While the movie was great, the corresponding video game was better. I doubt that there are few people who owned a Nintendo 64 that didn’t lose many nights of sleep trying to attain the coveted 007 Agent mode.

Unfortunately, the game is over a decade old, and my Nintendo 64 has been out of commission for some time. I’ve thought about getting a new one so I can revisit classics such as this, however, it was recently confirmed that the game would be re-released on Xbox Live Arcade. Unfortunately it was also put on hold indefinitely in almost the same breath.

Many rabid fans would ask why the game has been shelved, and depending on who you ask, you can get some very different answers. The first rumor that was buzzing around said that Nintendo and Microsoft were squabbling about profits. The latest word from Microsoft is that Saoru Iwata of Nintendo doesn’t want the game released on a competitor’s console, as it was originally and exclusive for the N64.

Honestly, I could care less what the issue is. There have been rumors of the game getting re-released for too long. I think I speak for many gamers when I say that these companies need to find some middle ground and get this game out the door.

Source: Kotaku

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Posted Jan 15th 2008 9:40AM by Darren Murph
Filed under: GamingWe know, it’s far too easy to link gesture-based anything to the Wii these days, but the Reactrix WAVEscape actually does favor the console’s approach on most every level. Officially announced at CES, the system was devised by TYZX and Reactrix and is destined to lure susceptible civilians that pass by commercial displays. Essentially, the company hopes to create an “engaging advertising experience” (saywha?) by enabling consumers to interact with the ads by simply moving their arms / hands and having those motions recognized by an integrated “3D camera.” Regrettably, it seems as if this technology isn’t headed to the living room anytime soon, but that’s what your Wii is for, right?

[Via PCWorld, image courtesy of oryankim]

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These domino themed thumb drives might only be a concept at this stage, but they are an enormously cool concept.  They are a typical thumb drive with a difference, the dots of the dominoes will tell you how much disk space you are using.  They are accurate to the nearest gigabyte (which is pretty inaccurate) and will give you a rough idea about how much space you have left to play with.

Yanko Design, DVice

Posted Jan 15th 2008 9:26AM by Darren Murph
Just in case you had the slightest fear that ole Steve wouldn’t be introducing something worth updating the Apple store over, well, consider that fear squashed. Yep, the e-doors to the online Apple store are indeed closed, and we’re betting they’ll remain tightly sealed until that “one more thing” is unveiled.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Collablog. Got some spare web server space lying around? Fancy yourself as a bit of a blog network mogul? Or a mega-blog community owner? Then download either version of this freeware package and give it a go. From the sparcity of the site it looks like early days, but the two packages seem fully equipped with everything you need to set up a new Metafilter or TypePad type service. Free for non-commercial use, but there are no terms for commercial use available yet, so there’s time to play around before you make your millions. 

 Collablog Portal Edition is for setting up and running large scale blogging platforms for multiple users, i.e., a large network of blogs, such as TypePad, Vox, WordPress.com, etc…Collablog Community Edition is for setting up community blog, or large group blogs, i.e., many bloggers posting on one blog, such as Mefi.

Did you take one look at this red blob and wonder wth it was? Take another closer look. Take a look at this blown up version of the photo. Still don’t know? Well, it’s an alarm clock wedded to a fire alarm bell. Possibly the loudest alarm clock ever? You can judge for yourself by making one yourself courtesy of the folks over at Hacked Gadgets!